The Big Picture

Leave it to the car-review guy to bring everything together and see the connection between little(er) problems and their bigger causes. I have written about Warren Brown before, and as he intunates, America's hunger for oil is not the problem - it is only the most recent and jarring symptom. I don't care if you belive in global warming, or infinite oil reserves once we colonize & start mining on Mars, the undeniable truth is that we are still a stratisfied society at levels that exceed rational expectations even from the seemingly inherently seperatist human race, and America continues to view the world throught the same lens.

For Sound Energy Policy, Don't Look to Congress

By Warren Brown

Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page G02

Congress thinks we're stupid. Maybe we are. We, most of us, refuse to accept that we are living in a world of rapidly increasing demand for declining fossil fuel resources.

We believe more oil is to be found around the corner, in the next country, beneath the ocean, under or in the next rock. Maybe it is.

. . .

We need more political wisdom and the guts to do the right thing.

That starts with political leaders telling the American people the truth, as Bush did in his "addicted to oil" comments. It means mandated increased vehicle fuel economy accompanied by increased taxes on gasoline, engine displacement and vehicle size. It means getting over our social and racial biases, which still keep certain people out of certain neighborhoods, and coming up with a truly efficient, democratic mass transportation system.

"Waiting until world conventional oil production peaks before initiating crash program mitigation leaves the world with a significant liquid fuel deficit for two decades or longer," the Hirsch report said.

Wake up, Congress. Wake up, America. We are a part of that world.

Full Article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/05/AR2006050500974.html